The Buffalo Sabres took great steps ahead this past season, finishing in first place in the highly-competitive Atlantic Division, then winning their first-round Stanley Cup playoffs series against the Boston Bruins before falling to the Montreal Canadiens in Round 2.
That success means that the TheHockeyNews.com‘s 2025-26 grades for Sabres players will be largely positive. And in this “Sabres Grades” file, we’re focused on goaltender Colten Ellis.
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Ellis didn’t get a ton of playing time playing behind veterans Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, but one of the reasons Buffalo traded young netminder Devon Levi is that Ellis had leaped over Levi in Buffalo’s goaltending depth chart. Ellis is now looking like Buffalo’s goalie-of-the-future, but the beginning of his NHL career has been much to the Sabres’ liking.
Colten Ellis
Position: Goaltender
Grade: B+
The Skinny: Ellis put forth a terrific rookie NHL season, appearing in 16 games and posting an 8-4-2 record, a 2.90 GAA, a .903 save percentage and one shutout. Those numbers weren’t going to get Ellis a Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie, but the 25-year-old showed enough last year to push himself up the Sabres’ organizational depth chart.
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Ellis has established himself as a strong netminder at the American League level with the Springfield Thunderbirds, posting strong years in 2023-24 and 2024-25. He needs more opportunity, but given that Luukkonen and Lyon both are under contract next season, more playing time may be hard to come by – at least, so long as the injury bug doesn’t sideline one or both of that goalie tandem.
Ellis is entering the final season of his current two-year contract, so he’s got all the motivation in the world to play more and play well this coming season. Lyon is also in the final year of his contract, and that means Ellis could push Lyon out the door. And if that’s what happens and Buffalo benefits from a step-up season from Ellis, Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen has the option to trade Lyon or Luukkonen and make Buffalo’s goaltending tandem into a 50/50 games split.
That’s a column for another day. This file is about last season, and while Ellis didn’t finish off the 2025-26 season particularly well, he had enough strong stretches to convince Buffalo to retain him.
Ellis is shaping up to be a long-term fixture in Western New York, and if he continues progressing, Ellis could be a significant part of a Sabres team capable of winning a championship.
